Nice Things Said

Back Cover Blurb

Michael was in Maurice Laurent's office at USC's Department of Archaeoastronomy, watching him examine the glyph.

"The star cluster is definitely in the constellation of Orion." Laurent brought the glyph closer to the light. "Hmm. Strange." With a magnifying glass he continued to scrutinize the tablet. "The stars are configured in an odd position, and the anchor star is missing. Where did you get it?"

"It was found at the bottom of a gorge in the Grand Canyon. The person who found it claims it was buried under silt near the waterline of the Colorado River. What's an anchor star, Maurice?"

"It's the star farthest south in a constellation. In the case of Orion, it's Alderban."

"Maybe it was omitted by accident," Michael said.

Maurice took another look at the glyph. "The rendition of the pyramids and the Sphinx are remarkable. I've never seen such clarity . . . and that bird . . . the epigraphy is extraordinary, the scribed detail superb." Maurice became pensive. Then he said, "I'd say whoever did this knew what they were doing. Alderban is one of the most prominent stars in Orion. I don't understand why it wasn't included . . ."

An ancient tablet scribed with inexplicable hieroglyphic-type writing found in the Grand Canyon prompts four scientists with different backgrounds and ideologies to search for a secret passage leading to the Sphinx. Their aim? To discover a ten-thousand-year-old link between Egypt and Arizona.

But once the cryptologist gleans the full import of the tablet's message, they realize that before the mystery can be solved, they must first find a cave in El Tovar Canyon.

A murder by an unscrupulous dealer in antiquities ends up complicating matters. When the U.S. government threatens to seal off the cave for reasons of national security, the scientists decide to take matters into their own hands.

What they uncover forces them to make a choice. If they reveal the secret, it could compromise the security of the United States. And if they don't, they could relegate future generations to an inhospitable world.

When an ancient tablet with mysterious cuneiforms is found at
the bottom of the Grand Canyon, an unscrupulous antiquities dealer
hires an archaeologist to identify its origin. Unable to decipher the
hieroglyphic-type writing, he contacts an Egyptologist, an archeoastronomer,
and a world-renowed cryptologist.

They set off to Egypt on an adventure to try and link the ancient tablet
to a golden statue deep within the Sphinx's paw.

Just as they feel they're on the verge of discovering the secret
contained in the cryptologist's message, the U.S. government mysteriously
intervenes. Ending in a long-forgotten cave in Arizona, they are now faced
with an appalling choice: to share with the world what they have learned
and compromise U.S. security, or to keep the information to themselves
and relegate future generations to an inhospitable world.

Secrets of El Tovar Canyon was published by Foremost Press. It can be ordered through local bookstores and at ForemostPress.com, and at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com.
ISBN 10: 0-9818418-7-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-9818418-7-8
228 pp, $13.97